Rain, Lots of It.

I thought I was going to be writing about another quiet day of convalescence. I slept through the snoring last night and after an early morning cuppa went back to sleep for a few hours lulled by the constant rain. There was a break in the rain at mid-day so I went up, fed the hens and made sure the water on the road was being diverted onto the fields. (see photo above.) The rain started up again so I was just settling down to watch TV when I realised that I ought to check the dams as the postman would probably have driven over them on his way down to the house. Oh my! The drive was being washed away by all the water pouring down. I had to grab more wood and a concrete block to try and divert at least some of the water. 

Having done what I could I walked down to the yard to see if the ditch there was working properly and OMG! the stream had burst its banks, was up on the lawn, had flooded the septic tank and had topped the block wall we have between the back of the house and the stream. It was right up to the level of the old back door (I'll have to clear the back room to see how much came in), and on the other side of the house was over the foundation slab and just a few inches below the damp course in the new part of the house. 

All this would not have happened if our neighbours had not built a parapet wall along their road. The previous owner had made a dam across the valley to create the lake and put the road across the dam. Our current neighbours built the parapet to protect the far side of the dam if the lake were to overflow. So now the water backs up and puts our home at risk instead. I did phone them to check that nothing was blocking the stream as I've always been worried about the culverts and silt trap they built in the stream between us and the lake as well as the height of the parapet. They came round and said the water was flowing away at either side of the parapet but there wasn't anything they could do. If I had my way I'd be round there with a sledgehammer lowering the height of their parapet. We are going to check out the legal position but we really don't want to be involved in a neighbour dispute. (I bet they never had planning permission.) The only other thing we can do is pay out to raise the height of our protecting wall and extend it round vulnerable sides of the house. Once the water started to go down I put on dry coat and trousers and spent several hours baling water out from the space between the house and the stream wall. Then I did my best to rake up some of the drive as we were back to 12" ruts again. Can't walk now as I've done something to my hip/back. 

PS I am now keeping an eye out for the frog I saw in the back hallway. When I realised it was a frog and not a leaf I put the cats out because they were showing too much interest. By the time I put on some rubber gloves to move the frog it had gone. I've looked everywhere, even up the stairs, but I can't find it. I hope that it finds its way out and doesn't end up dead in a corner. Yuck.